Detroit auto show: Cars of the future

With the Jeep Renegade, Chrysler designers and engineers hope to show that electric vehicles can be suited to serious off-road use.

The Renegade is a four-wheel drive vehicle that would be powered by two electric motors. It would be capable of going about 40 miles on a full battery charge.

In case battery power runs low, the Renegade would carry a small clean-burning diesel engine that would turn on to recharge the batteries.

This is a two-seat vehicle, smaller than today's Jeep Compass, designed to be built from the smallest amount of material possible, further minimizing its environmental impact.